Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

Podcast 472: A Conversation with Filmmaker John Scheinfeld

Straight No Chaser is the place for jazz lovers (and those who will soon be jazz lovers) to enjoy podcasts with their favorite music and artists. Winner of the 2017 JazzTimes Readers' Poll for Best Podcast, your host Jeffrey Siegel will take you inside the world of jazz, from the new releases to the best festiva;s to remembrances of jazz legends.

“My music is the spiritual expression
of what I am — my faith, my knowledge, my being…when you begin to
see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really
good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups…I
want to speak to their souls.” — John Coltrane

I
was cautiously optimistic when I heard that a documentary about
John Coltrane was being greenlighted for theatrical release. If any
African-American jazz musician’s life story captures the
sweep of the second half of the 20th century and
the development of Jazz music, it would be Trane. So imagine my
real joy when I learned that it was John Scheinfeld who would be
directing and film.

I am
familiar with Scheinfeld’s work from the theatrical documentary
The U.S. vs. John
Lennon which he directed, wrote and produced. It was an
official selection of the Venice Film Festival, the Telluride Film
Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the London
Film Festival and was subsequently released in theaters worldwide
and on DVD. It was also the recipient of the FOCAL International
Award for Best Use of Archival Footage in a Feature/Factual
Production).

His most
recent documentary film, Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is
Everybody Talkin' About Him)? premiered in New York and played
in theaters across the country during the fall of 2010. The film,
for which Scheinfeld was nominated for a prestigious Writers Guild
Award for Outstanding Documentary...and for which USA Today named
him one of the Top 100 Pop Culture People of 2010...was released
internationally in the Summer of 2011. He earned a Grammy
nomination for producing 2005's Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and
the Story of SMiLE. Clearly, this is a man who can bring music
to the screen in a big way.

As Mr.
Scheinfeld sees it, the film will explore the global power and
impact of the music of John Coltrane and will reveal the passions,
experiences and forces that shaped his life and revolutionary
sounds.

Shot on
locations around the world, the film will appeal to a broad,
worldwide audience that will be touched by Coltrane’s very human
story of demons and redemption. One can only hope that it
will be a film about hope, faith, optimism and the power of music
to heal and to transform the world, much as Trane did
himself.

Podcast
472 is my conversation with John about the upcoming film. He is
interviewing the great musicians who played with and hung out
Coltrane, many of whom are featured in the music that I have
integrated with our talk:

John
Coltrane – “Cousin Mary (alternate take)” from Heavyweight Champion: The Complete
Atlantic Recordings. An alternate take from the sessions
that made up the Giant Steps album in 1959.
Coltrane on sax, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and
Art Taylor on drums.

John Coltrane – “Bessie’s Blues” from
Crescent.
The Classic Quartet on one of my favorite Coltrane albums circa
1964 – Coltrane on tenor sax, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison
on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. This is a different take than
appeared on Crescent and can be found
on the Classic Quartet boxset on Impulse!.

About the Podcast

A blog with interviews, reviews, features and podcasts on jazz of the past, present and future. Four time winner of the JazzTimes Readers' Poll for Best Podcast.